FAQ

General

Business Sorter is a business planning tool. It helps you identify the top priorities in your business so that you can focus on the things you need to work on now. It also provides tips and advice to help you carry out your plan.

Although Business Sorter is primarily an internal planning tool, you may wish to share it externally, with your accountant for instance, to get additional input.

As long as your plan is continually referred to and updated, one by one tasks will be ticked off, key steps will be completed, and your business objectives will be achieved. For that reason, Business Sorter works best when used everyday as a working document.

Because Business Sorter is in the cloud, anyone with access can login on any device, from anywhere, at any time, and see what they need to do.

To get the best results, your plans should always be evolving to reflect what’s happening in your business. That way you’ll keep attention focused on the areas that need it.

Business Sorter is designed primarily for businesses that are already operating. Many of the cards also apply to a start-up scenario, and plans may be edited, so it can be used by start-up businesses. However, there are business plan templates online specifically designed for start-ups, for instance on banking or funding agency websites.

Yes. Business Sorter works for sole operators, but to make Business Sorter relevant for all businesses, some cards apply to teams of people. Business Sorter plans are fully editable so you can adapt yours to suit your particular situation.

Subscriptions

Business Sorter is available for a monthly or yearly subscription. There is nothing else to pay. All you have to do is choose the subscription plan you want and get started. The yearly subscription works out cheaper over a year. However, the monthly subscription means that, if you cancel, you won’t pay anymore once your current month runs out. Please note that subscription payments are non-refundable.

Yes. Anyone can sign up for a subscription and become an Account Holder, so a business could have more than one Business Sorter subscription. However, Business Sorter offers pricing plans for multiple users and multiple plans, so have a look at the options to decide what will work best for your situation.

The Account Holder (the person who started and manages your Business Sorter account) is the only one who can cancel your subscription. If the Account Holder is no longer part of your oganisation or isn't able to cancel your account, please contact us.

Plans

Your information can only be accessed by the people you invite to your Business Sorter account. Our website is protected by 256-bit SSL encryption, which is the same level used by major credit card companies and banks for internet banking. What's more, your data couldn't be safer. Business Sorter is hosted by Amazon Web Services, the world leader in cloud infrastructure as a service (IaaS). (Gartner Cloud IaaS Magic Quadrant 2014 & 2015.)

No. Preserving the confidentiality of your information is an absolute priority for us. Only you and your invited users can see your Business Sorter plans. The only exception is if you need technical help and we have to access your account to resolve the problem. In most cases we would only need to access the back end of the website, which is written in computer code, so we would not see any of your content.

You can access your plans as long as you maintain a subscription. When you finish using a particular plan, you can archive it. Archived plans are retrievable for 30 days. After that you can still retrieve archived plans but you’ll have read-only access. If you wish, you can delete archived plans permanently.

The Account Holder. As described in the answer to the last question: Who manages my access to Business Sorter?, the Account Holder decides who has access to their Business Sorter account. In addition, subscription payments need to be up to date to ensure uninterrupted access to plans.

If someone opens a plan that is already being editing, they will see a read-only version of the plan and a message telling them that a colleague is currently editing the plan. Once the colleague finishes editing, and exits the plan, the other person can then open it and start editing. This avoids the potential confusion that could follow if two people were to edit the same information at the same time.

Settings and access

Some pages of the 'sorter' (i.e. where you create a plan) require a reasonably large area, so that the words on the cards are big enough to read. There are a few ways to make your browser window bigger, in order to reach the minimum size required:

Option 1: Click the 'Go fullscreen' button. Please note: If your browser is Safari, don't use
the ‘Go fullscreen’ button. Instead, click 'View' in the main menu and then
'Enter fullscreen'. To exit full screen, click 'View', 'Exit fullscreen', or press the
'esc' key.

Option 2: Drag the edges of the browser window to increase its size.

Option 3: You may be able to increase the size of your browser window by hiding
toolbars along the top of your browser. Search online for instructions for the browser you’re using.

The screen size (aka resolution) of your computer or device obviously limits how big you can make your browser window. To make your browser window big enough, you need a minimum screen resolution of 1024x768 pixels. Click here to check your device’s screen resolution and browser size. Screen resolution is adjustable on some computers. If you want to check your settings, search online for instructions for your computer model.

Virtually all laptops and desktop, as well as tablets with screens larger than 7 inches, have screen resolutions 1024x768 or larger. If your tablet is 7 inches or smaller, or you’re on a phone, you'll need to use a larger device to create a plan.

Even if your tablet screen is large enough, your browser window could be too small. First you could try a different browser, eg. Google Chrome. If that still doesn't work, google 'how to make a website fullscreen' for your particular browser and device.

Here’s the method for Safari on iPads:

Launch Safari and go to Business Sorter.

Tap the 'action' icon at the top of the browser window.

In the dropdown menu, tap 'Add to Home Screen'.

When the 'Add to Home' window opens, press the 'Add' button.

A new Business Sorter icon will appear on your iPad's home screen. Tap to open fullscreen.

The Account Holder can invite people to their Business Sorter account and assign them roles on plans - either Team Leader or Team Member. They can change anyone's role on any plan, and delete people from their Business Sorter account.

A Team Leader can start new plans, invite people to join the Business Sorter account, and delete people other than the Account Holder.

Once a person has been invited to Business Sorter, they can be made a Team Leader on some plans and a Team Member on other plans. The following permissions only apply to the plans someone is a Team Leader on.

Team Leaders can edit plans and assign people roles on plans - either Team Leader or Team Member.

Team Members can see only the specific tasks they’ve been assigned to (including the related objective and key step). They can add notes to their tasks and tick off their completed tasks but they can’t edit a task, due date, task assignee, or costs. Team Members can only be invited by the Account Holder or a Team Leader.

With each Business Sorter subscription, the Account Holder ultimately manages access, to make sure one person has a full overview and overall responsibility. The Account Holder can invite people to join their Business Sorter account and assign them roles on plans - either Team Leader or Team Member.

The Account Holder can change anyone's role on any plan, or delete them from their Business Sorter account.

If someone is made a Team Leader on a plan, they can assign other people a role on that plan - either Team Leader or Team Member. Team Leaders can also start their own plans and assign people roles on those.

A Team Leader can invite people to join the Business Sorter account, and delete people other than the Account Holder.

Team Members have limited access - they can see only their own tasks (including the related objective and key step). They can add notes to their tasks and tick off their completed tasks. However, they can't edit plan details, due date, task assignee, or costs.